Open to Change More Than We Think?

We change our clothes. We change channels. We change lanes. We change our taste in what we drink, eat, and what we sleep on. We change our pets. We change the color of our hair. We change more than we think. Our problem with change is when something is changed to our dislike. It could be one spouse wants a different car.  It could be the color of another person’s hair. The way we do church. The menu at at our favorite restaurant. You can put your own problems with change in here.  But it really comes down to someone else changing what we like. 

How do you handle change? Are you a changemonger, loving change all the time, or do you despise change? Except when it’s nickels, dimes and quarters?

Life Lite

Woke up yesterday to a couple of swimming races taking place on the Snake River. Watched a couple of groups of swimmers standing on the Clarkston Beach,doned in green caps waiting to plunge into the river. It was a 3/4 mile race that would take them under the blue bridge to another beach.  Eight o’clock in the morning never sounds like a good time to go swimming, for me.  But here they were, taking the plunge. Since I don’t subscribe to the local newspaper, I don’t yet know who won either race.

I do know that this kind of race isn’t the kind where anyone would wake up and say to themselves, “I think I will swim in a race today.” Not without some kind of preparation for it.  It’s the word “preparation” that I find either fulfilling a persons life, or shortcutting a persons life. Paul exhorts people to run in a race and finish it. To not let anything cut in front of them and detour them.

When we prepare for something, we have much chance to succeed.  Then if we are aloof and foolhardy in our approach to life. In a time where lots of drinks are “lite” and diet foods are in abundance, are we “lite” in our life, shortcutting our life, or are we prepared for the long haul?  You decide.

Fourth of July

Much can be said about celebrating the 4th of July. Our freedom, our nations birthday, our picnics, our fireworks, our baseball games, our eating apple pie and used to being able to say Chevrolet, as being all-American.  But the best part of today, this July 4th of 2009, was being able to celebrate it with friends and family.  We had an awesome day. Starting with going to an Aquatic Center and swimming for about three hours. Then watching several minutes of great fireworks. A special thank you to all of you in Clarkston, Washington for lighting off your illegal fireworks, you outdid yourself andwe all loved them.  They were much appreciated.

My Fourth of July enables me to celebrate freedom to make choices and not have choices made for me. I enjoy the freedom to worship God as I please, to go to work where I want to work, and to raise my children with hopes they too will have freedom to do the right things. 

Hope you had a great Fourth of July.

One Year Anniversary for blogging

I started blogging in WordPress a year ago.  Below are my one year stats. I am trying to find my first post and the date on it and will add that when found. I enjoy writing so I thought blogging would enhance it. Probably off my mark, but it’s been fun writing blogs. Most of my blogs in the beginning were about my life as a paperboy.  I enjoyed delivering the newspaper in the summer time because at four in the morning I could wear shorts and t-shirt. I met a lot of interesting animals in the mornings like skunks, raccoons, and stray dogs. Here’s to another year of bloggin.

Blog Stats Summary Tables

Total views: 1,258

Busiest day: 49 — Saturday, August 9, 2008

Totals

Posts: 111

Comments: 45

Categories: 21

Tags: 179

Death is Death unless its Life

Three famous people died this week, Ed McMahan, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. All will be remembered for what they contributed to society.  Given the fact all were on TV, a lot, they will have lots of passionate followers, sad that they are now gone. We have already been listening to Michael Jacksons’ songs for several decades and now his song’s enter the post-Elvis remembrance. 

I have personally lost far more important people to me than these three.  My Grandpa Olinger was one of the greatest people I ever got to meet and know.  He prayed for me, he sent me support money while I was in Cambodia and I am pretty sure he never sang any songs that got recorded or was in any movie or TV show, but his presence in my life goes noticed. 

As Ed, Farrah, and Michael have their funeral’s, memorial services, and watch’s, as fans gather at each sight to remember them, I can’t help but remember my grandfather’s faith and the fact that someday I will get see him in Heaven.  His death, is really life. For the Apostle Paul said, “To be present is great but to die (an eternal death), is even greater.”  For we know that we get to be with the Lord. 

I don’t know Ed, Farrah, and Michael well enough to know their eternal destiny. I would hope they put their faith in God.

School’s Out for the Summer

Today is my kids last day of school.  Then its a whole summer of being creative so that they don’t get bored. We dumped TV so that our kids would read more, spend more time outside, write more, and basically not be lazy this summer. Here are some of the things my kids will get to do this summer.

1.  Swim for free this Saturday at the Asotin County Aquatic Center.

2.  Isaac’s finishes his baseball season on Monday, June 8th.

3.  Both Isaac and Anika won free tickets to Silverwood in Northern Idaho for completing a reading program at school. So we will go there sometime this summer.

4. We get to fish in Idaho!

5.  Isaac and Anika are joining a summer reading program at their school’s library. 

6.  Doing the Vacation Bible School roulette with local church’s VBS’s. 

7.  Taking a trip in July to a yet-to-be-determined destination.

8.  Hoping to go to our family reunion in Vancouver, Washington this August and take in the Clark County Fair.

9.  They get to hang out with me all summer long. Between jobs of course.

10.  They get to sleep past 7:30 a.m. every morning. Yee Haw!!!

What are you and your kid’s summer plans?

Investments

If I spend one hour a week with a seven year old child, teaching him or her about Jesus Christ and how to live for him and I get one year to do that and then move away, I believe my life will have been credited in Heaven. How much? I don’t know. But I will be rewarded for investing in a child’s life. A person who shares or breathes into another person’s life will get credit for that in Heaven.  Agree with me? Or disagree with me? I will assume you basically agree with me.

If I share in a ministry with others, we all get credited for the time we invested in those people’s lives we’ve been given responsibility for.  If any of us move and those people continue to grow in their relationships, more credit is given to us. I think in this world today we call it paying it forward.  I agree and I think in the Christian realm it has to do with making eternal investments. My third grade teacher invested five days a week in teaching me the things I needed to know so that I would be prepared for the fourth grade.

When I teach seven year olds at my church about Jesus and what’s in the Bible, I am preparing them not only for living their live here on earth but for making it into eternity. An eternity I hope is in Heaven. 

Though we will never know until we get to Heaven, the impact we have made on a person, its great to know that every day that person or person’s growth puts more credit in our eternal investment compartment. Wherever that may be. I am not thinking about how much I get in Heaven, rather, that my investment time was definitely worth it and definitely worth something.

Thinking about this today came from getting information that a place I used to minister at was growing in a new phase. My investment in that place just grew as they grew.  And the cool thing for me, is that no one can take that away from me. God likes addition and He loves to add to what we have invested in.

If you’ve ever invested in person and saw them grow you probably know what I am talking about. If you don’t think your time with someone or a group of people is worth it, rethink it, because it is worth it. 

So, on to more investments.

Front door living

I’ve already posted a similar blog on this, but it keeps happening to our family. People are just outside our front door. Whether its the kid who wants my kids to join him at the bus stop, who knocks loudly and seriously wants to inquire, or the neighbors across the street who we just got introduced to last Friday. Their son rides his bike in circles around our little portion of the neighborhood.  Then there is our next door neighbor who just brought us some fresh tomatoes from the Dogwood Festival. He was given way more than he could use, so he decided to share. Its an ongoing exchange. We are making friends with him, investing time, listening to him as he gives us updates on his ailing mother, and recently himself, in exchange for ongoing invites to go to our church.

This morning I felt in my heart that he will some day show up at church. Pray for him. His name is Harold.  If we live going out our front door, we get to connect with many people. If we go into our garage, get in our car, open the garage door, we only get to wave to our neighbors. That’s how we lived in our old house. 

Front door living is a great way to meet people.

Merchandising

I am a merchandiser.  I work for a company called Crossmark that is out of Plano, Texas.  I do resets, surveys to make sure certain products are on the shelf. I represent several companies. Like Russell-Stover, American Express gift cards, Ray-0-vac batteries, Mead-baby formula, Remington Shaving gear, Neutrogena cosmetics, and a few others. I reset stores, and I put coupons on product.  The Friday before Christmas I got hired by two other merchandising companies. One is called Acosta and it is very similar to Crossmark. Doing basically the same thing only representing different products.  The the job is with Kraft/Nabisco. In this job I get to put crackers and cookies on the shelves at prominient grocery store chains. I am very familiar with this line of work and hope I get the most hours from them.  Just this past Friday I got a call from yet another merchandising company only this time I work one hour, one day a week at the local Bi-Mart in Clarkston. So, four merchandising jobs and a paper route. How much fun can that be?  Anyone out there doing merchandising work?

Why You Should Visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley

In 1960 I got my “born on date.”  That would be February 20th, 1960.  I am an original from Lewiston, Idaho. I grew up across the river in Clarkston, Washington and would be a 12 year student in the Clarkston School District.  I graduated from Clarkston High School in 1978.  May 25th, to be exact.  All three of my brothers, and my sister, graduated from CHS.  The Grogan name used to be popular in Clarkston.  None of us live there now except my parents still live in the Clarkston Heights. 

I say all that to say, that I pretty much know everything there is to do here and I know every reason to come visit here and a few reasons why you might not want to come visit here. But since I am into the positives, I will give you some reasons why you should come visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.  We are located at the very Southeastern part of the State of Washington and the lower edge of Idaho that they commonly call, “The Panhandle.”  You would know this if you looked at the state of Idaho and saw its shape.  It looks like a skillet with an handle. 

Here are my ten reasons Why You Should Visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley

10.  It’s a quiet get-away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.  We only have a very small mall, if you can call it that, so shopping will be relegated to a few locally themes shops, like the basement of Wasem’s Drug store in Clarkston, and some downtown Lewiston shops. We do however have a Walmart, and soon-to-be-built, Super Walmart coming to Clarkston (Fall 2009), a Shopko, Kmart, and Bi-Mart.

9.  We are the Gateway to Hells Canyon.  The deepest canyon in the U.S. I guess it competes with the Grand Canyon.  You can take jet boat rides up the Snake River to Hells Canyon. I’ve never gone on it, but they run daily past my house on the river and I’ve been told its a great trip. 

8.  The weather outside is mild.  Right now our snow is melting, and its about 35 degrees, but during the spring and late fall, you can enjoy mid-seventies weather. Summer weather hovers around 87 to 95 degrees.  Strolling along the dike on either side of the Snake River is a great pasttime here in the valley. Lots of bicyclists, joggers, and walkers are seen daily on the dike. 

7.  The Asotin County Aquatic Center.  Our families greatest place to go to beat the summer heat. My kids take swimming lessons there, and they have three water tubes. A giant wave machine, a lazy river and indoor pool with hot tubs. Great place to hang out and its never really busy.  Its a miniature Wild Waves in Federal Way, without the amusement rides.

6.  You are only 2 hours away from Spokane, Washington and only 40 minutes away from Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho, in case you really can’t stand the “slowness,” that the valley provides.

5.  Good dining.  My favorites are Roosters Landing, along the Snake River in Clarkston.  Applebees.  Zany’s, which is a fifties style dining place.  Main St. Grill which has awesome bite size steaks. They serve bowls of peanuts in the shell to keep you occupied while they cook your food.  Rusty’s restaurant in North Lewiston for a great breakfast.  Other local favorites are IHOP, which recently opened, Tomato Brothers in Clarkston, Dining at the Quality Inn in Clarkston and Meriweathers at the Red Lion Inn in Lewiston. 

4.  Nice places to stay.  Two really good RV parks in Clarkston, both on the Snake River.  The Quality Inn in Clarkston, and the Red Lion in Lewiston. Hells Gate State Park only a mile south of Lewiston for camping. 

3.  Fishing.  The Snake River meets the Clearwater River right at Lewiston.  Lots of steelhead, salmon, and sturgeon fishing. And its year around. Also some nearby lakes like Winchester Lake, Soldiers Meadow Lake and Manns Lake provide some good fishing for trout. 

2.  Golf anyone? We have four great courses here in the valley. Two are country clubs and my favorite, Quail Ridge is a great course to learn your game on. The other one is Bryden Canyon which holds my career best score of 80. 

1.  The number one reason you should visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley is because you know deep inside you, you need a change of pace.  So come visit our little nook in this great big world.  You’ll be surprised and you’ll wish you had visited sooner.